When beginning work on an essay:
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Starting Out
- DO Understand the book or topic before beginning
a final draft. It is OK to be bewildered while writing rough drafts
- DO write outlines, notes, bubble-maps, or whatever
works best for you when planning your essay
- DO write fluently and without regard for final appearances
with working on rough drafts. What is important is to get your thoughts
recorded in whatever order they come to you
- DO write down everything you think of when working
on rough drafts, regardless of its ultimate sense or use. Sometimes
good ideas are hidden behind the silly ones in front
- DO consider writing more in your rough draft than
you will need in your final draft. The act of condensing your writing
often aids in sharpening it
- DO read and reread your rough drafts to yourself.
Read them aloud if possible. The sound of a sentence can tell you a
lot about its power and balance. Good writing sounds conversational
and fluent. If the essay read aloud sounds stiff and mechanical, it
probably is
- DO either step away from your rough drafts for a
while and then return; and/or have a friend or relative proofread your
rough drafts for you
- DO decide what ideas in your rough draft you intend
to keep and organize them in order of importance. Put the most important
things first
Building a finished draft
- Good expository essays generally have a beginning,
middle, and end. They may not be of the traditional five-paragraph-theme
variety, but they still have linear progressive development, and each
segment of the essay generally addresses certain aspects of a finished
piece
- The beginning generally sets tone, introduces the issues, and
states a thesis
- The middle is generally the detailed argument, analysis, or discussion
of the opening issues; evidence from the book or topic in question
is brought to light and analyzed so that it defends the author’s
thesis and beliefs
- The end generally brings the discussion to a satisfactory close
with final statements or solutions
- DO identify a central thesis for your paper, and remain focused on
it
- DO state your thesis clearly, strongly, forcefully, confidently
- DO support this thesis with every word of your essay. All subsequent
paragraphs must address aspects of your thesis
- DO support all claims with hard evidence. Don’t say anything you can’t
back up with evidence from the story or the topic of discussion
- DO begin paragraphs with a topic sentence that gives focus to the
paragraph
- DO write paragraphs that fully develop a central topic. This requires
at least several sentences. Short and one-sentence paragraphs may work
well and have significant impact in a creative narrative or descriptive
writing. Short paragraphs often do not work well in an expository essay
where argumentation and analysis generally require more development
- DO NOT write run-on paragraphs. When a new main idea is introduced,
start a new paragraph
- DO avoid parasitic qualifiers like very, really, rather, quite
- It is most correct and preferred that
one write about novels in the present tense Stories captured in words
live in the eternal present and discussion of them in the same tense
sounds best. It is not wrong to write in the past tense
- DON'T shift tense
- Avoid using the informal second-person pronoun "You" in
a formal essay. "You" is a casual and direct address to one
reader alone. Instead, use first person, “I,” or third person, “readers.”
EX: It is more precise to say, “I pitied Caesar,” or “Readers pity Caesar,”
that to say “You pity Caesar.” (for all you know, the one person reading
your essay does not pity Caesar)
- DON'T clutter essays with opinion qualifiers, such as "I think,"
"I believe," "I feel," "In my opinion,"
and so on. An expository essay by definition is the author’s opinion.
To state it directly in the essay is redundant
- DON’T talk about your essay in your essay. Talk about your subject
- DON'T write with fragments and run-ons
- DO use words and not symbols. Use the word "and," not the
ampersand symbol "&" or the plus sign "+"; use
"with" not "w/" and so on
- DON'T begin body paragraphs with “My first reason is…” and “My second
reason is…” and so on. This isn’t a math assignment
- DON’T begin your final paragraph with "In conclusion..."
for the same reason
- Know your homonyms -- know no from know, too
from to, their from there
- Know your apostrophes – cats, cat’s, and cats’ are all correct when
used correctly, and vice versa
- DON'T avoid using a big word, if it's the right word, simply because
you can't spell it. Speaking for myself only, I do not mind a misspelled
word if it’s a long one that fits beautifully
- DON’T misspell short simple words. That shows a lack of proofreading
- Proofread. Simple mistakes bother me more than complex ones
- Omit needless words, omit needless words, omit needless words, omit
needless words, omit needless words, omit needless words, omit needless
words, omit needless words!
External Design
- DO write original, creative essay titles that hint at your thesis.
DON'T write generic essay titles like Caesar essay or Medea
essay
- DO NOT capitalize all letters in all words in an essay title
- In an essay title capitalize the first letters of all nouns, pronouns,
verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and all prepositions of four or more letters
- DO NOT underline an essay title
- DO NOT put quotation marks around an essay title unless it is a quote
by someone other than yourself
- It is OK to write your title in a larger boldface font. Do not make
it too large
- DO have clear margins on all sides of a paper
- DO not write or print on the back side of an essay
- If a cover page is requested, put the following on a cover page: essay
title, name, date, period, class
- Generally, a cover page is expected if the essay is three or more
pages long
- DO put the same information found on the cover page onto the first
page of an essay
- DO put your name on each page of your essay next to the page number
- DO start ¼ down the first page. This leaves me room to write comments
and makes it clear where the essay begins
- DON'T turn in anything less than your best work
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